FREMONT, Calif.—In a
move to expand its drug discovery
solutions portfolio, DiscoveRx
Corp. has announced the acquisition of South San
Francisco-based BioSeek, a drug discovery services company.

Formerly a part of Asterand, BioSeek makes use of human
primary cell assays and
predictive disease models in the discovery and
development of therapeutics and "improves the success rate of drug discovery
and development by
integrating human biology from the earliest stages of drug
discovery onward through its unique BioMAP platform."

As of Nov. 1, BioSeek became a division of DiscoveRx, and a
press release on the transaction noted that both companies'
management teams
are working to ensure "a seamless transition during integration." Financial
terms were not disclosed.

"The integration of BioSeek provides two new capabilities to
DiscoveRx: Expertise in primary cell disease models, as well as
a highly
differentiated compound characterization service," said Pyare L. Khanna,
president and CEO of DiscoveRx, in a statement. "These new
capabilities further
strengthen our position as a premier drug discovery solution provider that
develops and commercializes high-value products and
specialized services."

BioSeek's BioMAP platform, as described on its website, "is
a drug
discovery solution that delivers physiologically relevant insights about
a compound prior to lengthy and expensive animal or clinical studies." The
platform incorporates primary human cell-based disease models in order to
produce predictive biological activity profiles for drug candidates, and
helps
to improve development success rates in pharmaceutical discovery. Compounds'
activity profiles are compared to more than 3,000 reference
profiles in the BioMAP
Database, each of which were generated from a well-characterized pharmacologic
agent. The platform provides "clinically
relevant predictions about the
molecular target, mechanism of action, off-target effects, toxicity, potency,
pharmacodynamic properties and biomarkers
" of compounds.

"BioSeek provides a very innovative solution for drug
discovery companies that have
advanced-stage compounds," says Sailaja
Kuchibhatla, senior vice president of business development at DiscoveRx.

The BioMAP
platforms, she adds, allows companies to address
drug discovery issues such as clinical failures from lack of efficacy or
unexpected toxicities,
physiological relevance of compounds and animal models
that are not predictive of human responses. In addition, the system allows for
easier transition
from screening to clinic, she notes, and enables biomarkers
and patient classification to be addressed early on in the process.

DiscoveRx currently offers an "industry-leading menu of
GPCR, kinase and now epigenetic assays," says Kuchibhatla, as
well as
"leading-edge solutions for assay development, lead ID and lead optimization."
The acquisition will expand the company's portfolio by
allowing them to offer
phenotypic screening solutions in addition to their current repertoire of
target-based screening solutions.

"DiscoveRx has continued to provide innovative solutions for
drug discovery markets. Our PathHunter, HitHunter and
KINOMEscan technologies
and products have provided valuable information to researchers as they make key
decisions regarding compounds and their
progression in the development pipeline
… With the BioMAP offering, we will start to provide valuable information on
the potential toxicity profile of
the compounds prior to the compounds entering
into expensive animal trials," she adds.

As for
the future of BioSeek's employees and facilities,
Kuchibhatla notes that, "We retained the entire BioSeek team and the facilities
as our objective
was to ensure that BioSeek customers are serviced with
virtually no interruption and business continues as normal."

"BioSeek has become an integral part of the pharmaceutical industry's
drug discovery programs, and in joining DiscoveRx, it will gain the
opportunity
to expand the utility of BioMap technology platform even further," Jack Davis,
chairman and CEO of Asterand, said in a press release
regarding the deal.